President Donald Trump had a gleeful reaction to the news that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel's show had been pulled "indefinitely" by ABC following comments Kimmel made about the assassination of far-right activist Charlie Kirk.
The cancellation came just hours after Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), criticized Kimmel and hinted his agency could take action against ABC over comments the host made during Monday’s broadcast—Trump had seen an opening to take Kimmel off the air.
Now Trump sees an opportunity to remove Kimmel's fellow late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers from the air, writing the following on Truth Social:
Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done."
"That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!"
You can see what Trump wrote below.
Many have called out Trump's authoritarian move.
Trump has attacked Kimmel in the past, including over the summer as he gloated over CBS' cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Colbert has consistently been at the top of the ratings, so it shocked people when CBS, citing economic concerns, announced that his program would go off the air next May—news that came as its parent company, Paramount, sought government approval for a merger with Skydance.
Three top Paramount and CBS executives called Colbert’s show “a staple of the nation’s zeitgeist,” emphasizing in a statement that the cancellation “is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.” They insisted the move bears no relation "to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
Just days after Colbert's show was cancelled, the FCC approved the merger. Over the summer, Paramount paid $16 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Trump, which Colbert said amounted to a payoff to secure approval for the merger.